Construction management can span various phases of a project's life cycle, from preliminary feasibility analysis and concept development through to commissioning of the project. Typically, a goal of effective construction management is to integrate the design and construction phases of a project while keeping it on schedule and within budget, and ensuring a completed product of the highest quality. If construction management of a project is flawed various problems can arise, such as; cost overruns, time overruns, substandard building quality, or even structural failure. Thus, to ensure that all project objectives are fully met, construction management staff utilize their engineering skill, experience, and knowledge of construction contracting to develop realistic schedules, prepare accurate construction estimates, analyze alternative designs, study labor conditions, perform value engineering, and effectively coordinate the activities of the construction team.
At the same time, management of Construction sites, especially large scale construction sites with numerous equipment deployed thereon, are increasingly becoming more complex. Construction equipment can be positioned at far way distances from the management control center. Moreover, the movement of materials gravel, dirt, and the like at construction sites, can require constant re-positioning of the construction equipment through out the site. As such, gathering data regarding location of the construction equipment, their maintenance requirement and over all state can be a challenging task.
Similar problems typically exist in massive assembly line operations (e.g., automotive operation) wherein the proper lay out, and location of assembly equipment can play an important role in the efficiency and productivity of an assembly line or plant.
For example, in such assembly lines positioning of welding terminals and their proper maintenance can play an important role in over all assembly line efficiency. Such welding systems are often deployed over great distances in larger manufacturing environments and many times are spread across multiple manufacturing centers. Given the nature and requirements of modern and more complex manufacturing operations, however, welding systems designers, architects and suppliers face increasing challenges in regard to upgrading, maintaining, controlling, servicing and supplying various welding locations. Unfortunately, many conventional welding systems operate in individually controlled and somewhat isolated manufacturing locations in regard to the overall assembly process. Thus, controlling, maintaining, servicing and supplying multiple and isolated locations in large centers and/or across the globe has become more challenging, time consuming and expensive.
One such challenge relates to locating, communicating with, servicing and troubleshooting welding systems. For example, mobile welding system(s) can be located on construction sites, large ship yard and even barges in the ocean. Conventional welding systems often require engineers to travel to physically remote locations in order to provide service and/or troubleshooting support.
Another challenge facing welding systems relates to maintenance. Welders are often maintained and serviced according to procedures implemented by operators of the welding systems. Although some operators may adequately service and maintain these systems, quality of the service and maintenance is often up to the training and competence of the individual operator. Thus, a large collection of well-maintained welders servicing an overall assembly process may be at the mercy of another welding system that is not properly serviced or maintained. This may cause the process to stop or be disrupted during service outages relating to a poorly maintained welder. Even under the best of circumstances, however, given that many welding systems are operating in an isolated manner, diagnostic information relating to the health of these systems is often not reported or discovered until after a breakdown occurs.
Therefore, there is a need to overcome the aforementioned exemplary deficiencies associated with conventional systems and devices.